AT UNIVERSITY Neighborhood Apartments, the doorways and hallways are a little wider, the doors have levers and not knobs, and the bathrooms have roll-in showers and not tubs.

Because of those features, the 27-unit building is billing itself as the first affordable housing development in the country that adheres to “universal design” — the idea that housing should be accessible to people with and without disabilities. The design modifications also are not supposed to stand out and make it look like the housing was built just for disabled people.

The concept of universal design was spearheaded over a decade ago by professors at North Carolina State University’s College of Design who wanted to improve the quality and availability of housing for the elderly and people with disabilities.

The idea is to design housing that a person can adapt to over time, especially in situations where disabilities come later in life.

The philosophy is that “one should build in such a way that it’s accessible for your whole lifetime no matter what happens,” said Sue Siegel, founder of San Francisco nonprofit Hearth Homes Community Building, which helped develop the Berkeley project. “If you go to University Apartments, you can’t tell it looks that different from other developments.”

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